Guitar Guys: Question/Opinons needed

[Don Plumley]

When I was 14, I played a bit and made this guitar:




It ended up helping me get a summer job at Red's Guitar Warehouse in Mountain View, CA as the repair department. No kidding, my first refret was a customer's D-45. I miss the confidence of youth - I could do anything.

Fast-forward a few moons and this guitar has collected mostly dust since then. I'm toying with the idea of starting to play again, and I need/want to refresh the electronics, polish the brass, etc.

When I designed the body, I loved the look of the Strat, but liked the lack of a pickguard from my friend's Les Paul. So I melded the two into the hybrid pictured above. I don't know what I was thinking putting three humbucker cutouts, but that's what I did. I like the way it showed the two maple stringers running through the front (plus they cary sustain from the neck to the bridge, in theory). The middle pickup now is a blank - piece of acrylic. The bridge pickup is a 1970's Bill Lawrence, the neck was from an old Les Paul. The switches are unused - when I first did it I put all kinds of active electronics in it. Now, one of them kills the output, that's all.

I'm toying with one extreme, putting a full size Strat pickguard and three strat pickups - going a bit more original looking. The other is some variation of pickups in the current humbucker mounts. In the middle is a partial pickguard for just the pickups - maybe one strat and one humbucker. I'd probably blank or fill the three switch holes. I just don't know. I'm open to many/any suggestions.

Sound-wise, I'm partial to Clapton, SRV, Blues. More rich/warm sound.

What would you do in terms of sound/esthetics/electronics?

Thank you!!

[VaSteve]

I'd ditch the white pickup and the brass hardware (go with black maybe?) and leave it pretty much as is. I think a strat pick guard would make it too busy.

Can't speak to tone....

[oldE]

Don,

Love the look of that guitar.

I think the first thing I would do is contact Wolfe MacLeod.
Wolfe Lore
Welcome back to the music

Best
Les

[yazhound]

I am impressed! That is sweet. My friend got a Les Paul - "The Paul" - back in 1980, very similar look, no guard, wood finish. He still plays it now. Back in the day Joe Perry was using Bill Lawrence I think. Does it have that kind of tone when you crank it? Love that old dirty Joe Perry. Hmm never thought Clapton and SRV had the same sound. But hard to get the SRV without being SRV me thinks. He played loud!! In my mind always surprised how warm and thick SRV sounded thru a strat single coils.

[Aragorn]

As far as strats go, I don't think I have ever heard a more haunting tone than Mike McCready of Pearl Jam on Yellow Ledbetter. Truly beautiful clear music from a beautiful sounding guitar. On a wizard on a wave ya...Make me fries.

Think wolf is the guy to talk to about tone. His website used to have some samples of different pickups.

Nice job on the strat.

[craigster59]

Nice work Don! As other pelicans have said, I'd get in touch with Wolfe on the pickups. If you want to change the bridge, knobs, etc I've had good service from these guys.....
Welcome to Guitarfetish

[scottmandue]

If you want a strat sound run down to Guitar center and get a made in Mexico (MIM) strat for (relatively) cheap.

As for that guitar GREAT JOB!!! I too miss the days of being fearless and indestructible... though in my case it was working on cars... back in the day I would pull and engine or drop a trans without a thought... now I wimp out and sent my car off the the mechanic for a brake job

Just my two cents on that guitar, I like the idea of the black hardware.

Frampton had a great sound and got insanely famous playing a three pickup Les Paul... just sayin

[Don Plumley]

Thanks - keep it coming!

As for Black Hardware, I agree, it might look good. Brass is very 1970's. My only reason for staying with brass are the Gold Schaller pickups - they are pretty nice. I also like nickel/chrome.

[hawaiipcar]

I'd leave the guitar alone and go find a nice Strat, that way if you want a humbucking type sound you'll have it. Getting a Blues type sound can be had from any type pickup, the amp you play though also matters. Tone chasing is an endless quest that can drive ya crazy in a good way...

[Nostril Cheese]

Avoid guitar fetish like the plague. I've had some really miserable experiences dealing with them. Yet another vote for Wolfe. I have his pickups and they rock.

[Cajundaddy]

Nice axe Don! Personally I like the gold/brass hardware and would keep it period correct and vintage Plumley. Tonewise I might put a black 59 hummer at the bridge, maybe a P90 in the middle, and a 59 hummer at the neck and have them wired to work with your slide switch. Keep this one as a piece of your history and go pick out a nice Std Strat for those kind of tones. A nice 1x12 Mesa from the boys up the road from you would make a jammin' guitar rig.

[Don Plumley]

Originally Posted by Cajundaddy

period correct and vintage Plumley.

Great! "vintage Plumley" - Aging is good for wine, not so much for me.

Yeah, Mesa up the road, used to drool over the Santana sound. I have an old Tube Champ in the closet I should pull out. I'm amazed at the headphone sound I get out of my iPad with Ampkit.

[nostatic]

Yeah, I wouldn't touch that. Just set it up and play it, maybe swap pickups. There are plenty of strats in the world but only one Plumley, at least that we know of.

[scottmandue]

Dude... be bold! be brave!



Did I really need the green type for this?

[PushingMyLuck]

I can't believe a 14 year old built that

[Don Plumley]

That's hot. I wonder if they make a Pikachu one.

Okay, I pinged Wolfe for some suggestions. I can go two or three humbuckers, or maybe put a strat pickup in the bridge position using this:



I'm tempted to go ivory with the color, more retro. I should photochop the photo to see how a color change would look.

(Ivory - the binding around the edge of the fretboard is ivory - that's why)

Getting excited...

[ramonesfreak]

Since you made it as a kid, I would leave it as is. I would definitely leave the bill Lawrence pickup in there. RIP bill Lawrence. Glad I have a set of his he made.

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by Don Plumley

That's hot. I wonder if they make a Pikachu one.

Okay, I pinged Wolfe for some suggestions. I can go two or three humbuckers, or maybe put a strat pickup in the bridge position using this:
.....

Theoretically, if the route is big enough, you might even be able to stick a telecaster bridge pickup in there, and get a lot more kick than from a strat pickup. It might require some work to make a Tele-sized version of that though.

What's the E to E string spacing on that guitar? looks pretty wide, judging by where the strings fall at the outside ends of the Lawrence blades....

[Rick Lee]

Check this site out.
Bobbin Toppers

I'm doing a VH II bumble bee build and am using one of Wolfe's Marshallhead pickups, but needed to make it white like the one in the real bumble bee. So I bought two of the bobbin toppers from the link above and - voila - now the humbucker is white.

I'm probably gonna throw a Seymour Duncan 59 in one of my other VH guitars, but want to cover up the white "Seymour Duncan" script on the lower bobbin, so I'll buy a black bobbin topper for a whopping $2.

[Don Plumley]

Originally Posted by PushingMyLuck

I can't believe a 14 year old built that Alembic looking guitar.
That's simply mindblowing. Was your dad a luthier?

Thank you.

Full disclosure, I bought the unfinished neck. But no, while he's better with his hands than I am, I actually did make the guitar and he just peered in now and then. Built another one for a buddy, Gibson SG copy. Sourced the wood, glued the body, cut, route, yada yada. Doing the routing on the neck mounting was nerve-racking. Like I said, arrogance of youth. I'd try anything.